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Jay-gon Jinn
03-25-2007, 12:04 PM
I'm looking for a smaller focusing lens to use in my custom saber. It wasn't machined with the proper space in the blade holder/emitter for the regular 5/10 deg. optics. I'm looking to find one that will fit inside a 3/4" thin-walled blade. I thought about the lenses in the Tri-lux set-up, but can't seem to find any online. Any suggestions?

p.s. I'm trying to convert the fiber-optic blade I have over to Corbin's blade film, and I know it won't light it up without some form of optics.

Ryma Mara
03-26-2007, 04:11 PM
http://www.luxeonstar.com/item.php?id=470&link_str=121::123&partno=FT3-HMB1-LB01-H

But whats really strange is that different colors for the same lense will be diferent degrees.

Jay-gon Jinn
03-27-2007, 07:42 AM
That's interesting, but not quite what I'm looking for. Acerocket has been kind enough to offer to send me a lens that he uses in the tri-lux, so we'll see if that will work for me. My other option is to take a 5 deg. optic and sand it down to fit into the blade, but i'm not sure what that would do to the dispersal pattern of the lens.

Ryma Mara
03-28-2007, 03:22 PM
Yeah, well good luck

Jay-gon Jinn
04-01-2007, 07:30 PM
Don't need luck if you got skills! :lol: I did try my hand at grinding down a 10 deg. optic to fit inside a 3/4 inch blade, 'cause I was going to my first Trooping event with the Midwest Base of the Rebel Legion and the 501st. Michigan Squad of the Midwest Garrison at the Grand Rapids Griffins game on Saturday night. (We raised $1126 for the griffins' Children's Foundation in the photo booth!) Once I got it to the right size, I hot glued it in place, after I installed a double wrap of Corbin's blade film. It works, but I'll bet the small optic from the Tri-Lux will be better.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/luxsaber_blade_mod_2.jpg
You can barely see the optic in there....
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/luxsaber_blade_mod_1.jpg
These next pics were taken the day after the event, and the batteries were a bit run down. I'm also running the K2 off the MR board, so it's not at it's full potential anyway.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/luxsaber_blade_mod_3.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/luxsaber_blade_mod_4.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/luxsaber_blade_mod_5.jpg
The blade is 33" long from the emitter face to the tip. It's so light, you almost don't feel the weight.

Ryma Mara
04-01-2007, 08:13 PM
Kool. think you can snap a pic in the dark?

Jay-gon Jinn
04-02-2007, 07:31 AM
I'll give it a shot tonight and get one up tomorrow. I think I better replace the batteries, too. It looks like I might have the lens slightly misaligned, too, but I had a difficult time getting it in there and really don't want to try it again. As it is, it still lit up my bedroom last night in the dark!

Ryma Mara
04-02-2007, 07:34 AM
Well the k2 on a mr board will still whip the lux3 on an mr board anyway.

Looks good so far. does look a bit tad missalined but i could be a camera trick

Jay-gon Jinn
04-02-2007, 07:47 AM
It might also be the end of the film is cut at an angle too. That might be why it looks mis-aligned to me. I'd really like to wire up the K2 with a relay, but I don't think there's room in the hilt for the relay. Lots of wires and batteries in there :wink: ...

Ryma Mara
04-02-2007, 09:06 PM
Hay Jay I got a question.

How heavy does the "fiber optic" make the blade?

How would it look with the "fiber optic" in a 1" blade with a diffuser and optics?

Jay-gon Jinn
04-02-2007, 10:06 PM
It made the blade weigh about a half a pound, I think. The cable is 14mm (1/2 inch) in diameter. If you put it in a 1" tube with a 3/4" i.d, then it would flop around inside the blade. Optics didn't help with lighting the cable, either. I found it worked better butting the end of the cable right up to the led's dome.

Jay-gon Jinn
04-02-2007, 10:15 PM
I did try sliding it in with the Corbin film inside the 3/4" blade and it didn't really make any difference, except to add the weight of the cable to it. Here's those night pics you wanted to see:
On my living room floor:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/luxsaber_blade_mod_6.jpg
And up against the living room wall:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/luxsaber_blade_mod_7.jpg
I didn't change the batteries for these, I thought they may have recovered a bit of their charge over the last couple days enough to take a decent pic.

Ryma Mara
04-03-2007, 12:01 AM
Wow I really like that.

neophyl
04-03-2007, 05:08 AM
You guys should be aware that as soon as you try grinding down the optics you ruin their efficiency. They work on the principle of total internal reflection (TIR). They dont quite acheive total, having a 85-95% efficiency normally.
They are specially shaped so that the light bounches around inside the optic reflecting off the walls until the light comes to the 'open' end where its emmitted. As such even scratching the walls degrades its performance and grinding it most certainly does.

Ryma Mara
04-03-2007, 05:57 AM
Amuse me for just a moment jay. could you post a pic of what it looks like inside a diffused blade?

How ever neophyl that is one nice blade hes got there.

Jay-gon Jinn
04-03-2007, 08:16 AM
I know, and that was a concern, Phil, but I had to do something to get it working for saturday! :wink: Compare it next to my MHS Lux III powered saber with the 5 degree lens, and it's nearly as bright, even on half-dead batteries:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/mhs-saber-luxsaber-optic-compared-1.jpg

And Ryma:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/fiber-optic-cable-w-corbin-diffu-1.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/fiber-optic-cable-w-corbin-diffuser.jpg
Not much of an improvement. It still gets dim in the middle, and really bright at the ends.

Ryma Mara
04-03-2007, 09:46 AM
Have you a mirror in the tip?

elrond.406
04-03-2007, 05:33 PM
Have you a mirror in the tip?

Dude, you can so see the reflection of light at the end... :?

Ryma Mara
04-03-2007, 09:06 PM
No thats what is called light bulbing.

A sign of no mirror. I just remembered that, I wander how that would look then if there was a reflective material of somesort.

Jay-gon Jinn
04-03-2007, 09:34 PM
There isn't any reflective material in the tip. That particular blade used to be an EL blade that I recently converted to led, and have been using it with my MHS saber. There's no way to use the blade with the optic I installed, as it is sealed with hot glue. However, when i was using the cable in the blade originally, I did have an acrylic mirroed disc in the tip that I am still using in the converted blade with the optic glued in.

Marsupial
04-03-2007, 10:03 PM
what is the optics you are using? I was under the impression that fiber optics worked best with 3 degrees...

Jay-gon Jinn
04-03-2007, 10:08 PM
I actually removed th fiber optic cable. Ryma wanted to see what it looked like combined with a diffuser in a blade, so I temporarily put it in another blade I have. The optic I ground down to fit in the blade for this saber was a 10 degree. I have used both 5 and 10 in these 3/4" blades and there isn't a noticeable difference. I agree that a three deg. optic would probably be ideal for this type of set up. We'll see if i can get it better when the small optic from a Tri-lux Ace is sending me arrives.

Ryma Mara
04-03-2007, 10:29 PM
Humm intresting

Jay-gon Jinn
04-03-2007, 10:32 PM
See 2nd above post, I edited it.

Jay-gon Jinn
04-13-2007, 08:49 AM
I'm going to be working on this some more this weekend. I have another optic to try out (Thanks Ace!).

Ryma Mara
04-13-2007, 04:44 PM
Yeah try every option you have with you for that blade before you seal it off. Iam trying to get some 3/4" blade ideas.

Jay-gon Jinn
04-13-2007, 09:13 PM
No kidding! Hot glue is a pain to remove, but it is at least removeable.

Jay-gon Jinn
04-16-2007, 09:56 PM
Well, I did a little more work on this lens issue I have. I removed the 10 deg optic that was in the blade and replaced it with a 5 deg. But before I cut it to fit, though, I taped it to the end of the blade to make a comparison. Here is the 5 deg. lens (on the left) compared to the 10 deg (on the right):
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/LED%20Optics/5deg-lens-test-2.jpghttp://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/LED%20Optics/10deg-lens-test-1.jpg
The 5 deg. was a bit "greener" towards the tip, so I decided to go with the 5 deg. (I took these in my basement with the lights on, around 11:30-12:00 p.m.)

Jay-gon Jinn
04-16-2007, 10:05 PM
I took a couple more pics to compare it with my MHS saber which has a blue Lux III and 5 deg. optics as well. It looks about the same to me:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/LED%20Optics/5deg-lens-comparison-4.jpg
The blue one may be a bit brighter towards the tip, but that's because I don't have anything for a reflector in the green blade. I wanted to get the tip to light up, so I lightly sanded the bottom of it to diffuse the light and make it glow. It worked pretty well:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/LED%20Optics/5deg-lens-test-4.jpg

Jay-gon Jinn
04-16-2007, 10:16 PM
I also tried out the small optic that Ace sent me from the Tri-Lux, but the 5 deg. looked brighter to me. I remember taking some pictures of that, but I can't find them.

Ryma Mara
04-16-2007, 10:51 PM
Nice. very nice.

Lord Maul
04-17-2007, 02:28 PM
the first pic is weird, they look like different shades of green to me :?
find the pics of ace's optics jay gon!

Novastar
04-17-2007, 04:19 PM
Has anyone tried the 3 degree lens that lumileds provides (through luxeonstar) that are supposed to go over the K2 emitters and hold them down via adhesive?

I have two of them, and although I can't say much for the adhesive and holder (I had to cut that junk off and sand the optic down--long story)... I noticed that the output beam IS visibly tighter on the wall vs. any 5 degree or higher setup.

Question is... will it produce a "better" or equal saber brightness. Hmm. I'll have to find out in good time.

Lord Maul
04-17-2007, 06:23 PM
it will in 3/4 inch blades for sure, i'm not certain about one inch blades though

Jay-gon Jinn
04-17-2007, 09:07 PM
I'll just take some new ones, LM!

I haven't tried those 3 deg. ones on the Lumileds site, but I have thought about it. my main concern with this was to be able to get a diffuser-film type blade to work in place of the heavy fiber-optic cable, and so far it seem to be going well. I think the best way to go will be if Ultra ever gets around to producing 3/4" blades with his optic film in them. I'll buy half a dozen of them if he does!

neophyl
04-18-2007, 01:39 AM
The problem with the 3 degree ones mentioned is that they are quite large. Most optics will fit inside a 1" ID tube, they wont being over 1" at the front.

Ive got a couple here and was going to use one on my wooden gripped sabre but it wouldnt fit in that design so I swopped it for a 5 degree one.

I was going to try it in the imperial knight sabre Im planning on to see how it does.

Novastar
04-18-2007, 02:01 AM
Good call Phil... I noticed that when I ordered them... thinking they'd be similar to the "regular" sized ones.

Guess I got "unleaded". lol

What I did (probably a stupid move, but hey--worth a shot if I don't end up making use of them):

* Broke off the bottom "adhesive" part, which actually doesn't help us the way WE are generally mounting LED emitters. Hard to explain...

* Gently ground down uneven parts... it wasn't pretty believe me--but at least was UNDER the actual "focal" part

* Gently ground down AROUND the sides in order to fit it into the new MHS 1.25" holder (the black anodized one). This was ALSO not pretty, and might have ZONKED the light collimation more than I'd want...

But I won't know until I get a blade all settled into it. Which should be soon. :)

However, it doesn't really matter since I may end up scrapping any K2 "emitter" projects, and just go for the MUCH easier-to-mount stars + nylon screws + 5 deg optics.

* SIGH * It probably doesn't help that the only "tools" I really have include a cordless Li-Ion drill (no kidding, Li-Ion)... a soldering iron... and... uh... that's about it.

neophyl
04-18-2007, 04:29 AM
I know what you mean about the bases not fitting once you actually connect wires. The K2's I used are already on stars so mounting is the same as the normal 3w ones. The only difference is the square based emmitter as opposed to the round of the 3/5w leds. Those bases stick to a star fine, they just dont leave any room for wires to go to the pads so I ended up dremmeling channels for the wires too.

Buying bare emmitters isnt worth the trouble unless you absolutely cant find a star based one. Even then you can buy 'blank' star pcb's on ebay to solder your emmitters to making them the same as any other star.

On my latest sabres Ive even stopped using the nylon screws. I just initially stick in place with cooltape and once Im glueing the optic in place I esually use a bit extra of epoxy around the edges of the star and optics to bond it permanently to the heatsink. If I swop out emmitters later I just make a new heatsink and swop it as a unit, bit like the ones in the shop.

Novastar
04-18-2007, 07:31 PM
Totally understand what you mean on the emitters... I learned that lesson after only buying a Luxeon V emitter and a Luxeon K2 green one some time ago.

As to the blank PCBs... yes I've heard of those, Corbin clued me into them. Makes sense too, I see how they are used, and the pins are just soldered in place and all.

I just wanted to see if I was capable of working with an emitter alone--and gee, I guess save that extra millimeter of space?? lol

I love Tim's nylon screw setup... it's nice to know that you're not risking a burnt LED if you take a saber apart, the LED "floats" away and you trip the switch. That happened to me TWICE on my original Light Master saber... but that was also way back when I didn't have *ANY* experience at all. :)

Jay-gon Jinn
05-14-2007, 09:17 AM
Hey, Maul, I took some pics of the different lenses I have, including the one Ace sent me:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/LED%20Optics/led_focusing_optics_1.jpg
The Tri-lux lens is on left, my altered 10 deg. is in the center, and an un-altered 10 deg. is on the right. Here's another without the holder on the Tri-lux optic:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/LED%20Optics/led_focusing_optics_2.jpg
The Tri-lux is in the center, my altered one is on the left, and the un-altered 10 deg. is on the right.

They all seem to light up a blade the same, so that's why I went with an altered 5 deg. in the blade set-up for my custom saber.

Novastar
05-14-2007, 03:01 PM
How does the tri-lux lens differ exactly? It appears to have only one area to capture the light--from the center (such as the other "normal" lenses).

neophyl
05-14-2007, 03:56 PM
Nova thats not a complete trilux unit, just one of the lenses that go into the trilux. Due to being smaller you can pack them closer as long as you use emmitters and not stars.

Jay-gon Jinn
05-14-2007, 09:25 PM
Neophyl is right, Novastar, there would be three of those inside the Tri-lux. Ace just sent me one to help me out with this issue I was having with the design of this saber of mine. As it turns out, it wasn't any better than the lens I had ground down to fit inside the blade. If i had to guess, I'd say it's basically a 10 deg optic that has been cut into a hex shape with a mill.

neophyl
05-15-2007, 04:33 AM
Then your guess would be wrong 8) . Its a 6 degree lens that is manufactured exactly as you received it.

If Ace wants to post up the company info thats up to him.

Only reason I know is that their overseas shipping is massively high so Ace had them delivered to me and I trans-shipped the box on to him which made the shipping a little more ralistic in price.

Jay-gon Jinn
05-15-2007, 08:07 AM
That's good info, I wasn't sure what the dispersal pattern was on it. If Ace wants me to take the pictures down, I will. I think these could really come in handy for someone trying to create a more accurate Luke or Obi-wan saber. The small size could allow for a thinner neck area on a blade holder/emitter. When I get a new emiiter done for my custom saber, I'll be designing it around that lens.

Novastar
05-15-2007, 02:34 PM
Thanks guys... yeah, all that helps. I was glad to see I wasn't "high" on the lens thing. I was wondering why the "tri-lux" lens there looked like only ONE lens. It was. :D

How in the heck would you hold the emitters in place though? I've done emitter-only sabers (three of them), and they all suck when and if it comes down to repairing them. It's just a mess.

Although naturally I see the advantage over less "bulky" stars, and more Lux Rebel / emitter, heheh

acerocket
05-15-2007, 03:37 PM
That's good info, I wasn't sure what the dispersal pattern was on it. If Ace wants me to take the pictures down, I will. I think these could really come in handy for someone trying to create a more accurate Luke or Obi-wan saber. The small size could allow for a thinner neck area on a blade holder/emitter. When I get a new emiiter done for my custom saber, I'll be designing it around that lens.

Nope, that's OK. I think somewhere I already posted a pic of the optics anyhow.

Jay-gon Jinn
05-15-2007, 10:00 PM
Novastar, here's why I went with the optics in the blade:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/luxsaber_MR_board_final_pics_3.jpg
You can see the K2 emitter in there. It just sits in there and is held in place by the wires, and the optic in the end of the blade. This is the mount/heatsink:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/lux-saber-reassembly-4.jpg
It has a pocket cut in it for the led to sit in, and is hollow to allow the wires to run down into the hilt. Since it was designed around a round lux III emitter, the K2 is a tight fit.

Novastar
05-16-2007, 03:16 AM
ZOUNDS that is sithspit cool! :)

How the heck did you do that? Was it custom-machined, or just some part you can pick up and slightly modify?

I don't have a lathe or anything. I have a cheap soldering iron, wire strippers, metal shears, a tap & drill kit, and a Li-Ion battery-powered drill.

That's basically it, heheheh. :)

Jay-gon Jinn
05-16-2007, 07:30 AM
I had the whole saber custom machined, and it was a work in progress over a couple years. You can see more of it here. (http://www.saberknights.com/members/jay-gonjinn/LuxSaberGallery.htm) It went through several upgrades to get to where it is now, and I have a few more in store for it, including adding UltraSound!
Oh, and I have pretty much the same tools you've got, but I've also got a drill press, a rotary tool, and a bench grinder.

Novastar
05-16-2007, 03:53 PM
YEARS?! Double zounds... that is a long time. But hey, still a nice obi-wan.

I'm in the process of wiring up a "sith" version of Flange3 with a BTv1.2. Haven't had time to work on it for C4, but figured it'd be nice to have both a red & and green running at 1.3A. Also to see for comparison.

But yeah, no custom machining on MY part--I just use 2 or 3 of Tim's stock parts, heheh.

Jay-gon Jinn
05-16-2007, 09:04 PM
Well, it was years of upgrades, that is. It started out as this:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/delrin-hilt-original.jpg
It was a simple black delrin hilt with an add-on one-piece aluminum emitter and a solid aluminum pommel, with an aluminum switchbox.
Then it went to this:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/My_New_OB_Trainer.jpg
This mod added the sleeve and shortened the hilt to better fit the sleeve. The emitter face is flat with a hole for a 1/2" acrylic rod.
Then it went to this:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/My_New_OB_OT_Saber.jpg
A hole pattern was machined into the emitter face, the switch box had it's corners rounded off, and it got a nice black anodize coating.
Then to this:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/lux-saber-1.jpg
This mod replacd the entire delrin hilt with a two-piece body tube with the exact same grips machined into it. It also was modified to light up using a cyan Luxeon I, and Hasbro soundboard. Extensive mods for the emitter, and also for the pommel. The emitter was machined to slide onto the LED adaptor/mount, and the hole was opened up to acommodate the 3/4" polyC tube. That blade used a 14mm side-glow fiber-optic cable to light it up. I found it was brighter without the collimator, so that's why the emitter was machined without the proper space for one.
And finally, after a trip to the anodizer, it went on to this:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/luxsaber_MR_board_final_pics_7.jpg

Novastar
05-16-2007, 09:35 PM
Pardon my french but j.c. on a unicycle... how much did all of that from start to finish cost???

It looks like your saber underwent plastic surgery... (ok, aluminum surgery)...

...like 4 times!

Man, it's had more work done than Michael Jackson... hahahah :D

:shock:

'cause I'm Bad, I'm bad... you know it...

Jay-gon Jinn
05-16-2007, 09:38 PM
Well, with all of the machining mods, plus adding the new blade set-up and MR board, I'd say it's up to around $600. Money well spent, I might add, to have something totally unique. With the addition of the Ultra board I bought for it yeaterday, it might be close to $700.

Novastar
05-18-2007, 04:52 PM
Wow, that is about as much as Corbin was playing around numbers-wise... for the Killer Penny (or whatever, Penny Killer).

I respect all the hard work, Jay... but yours WILL look like an Obi-Wan, right?

And yeah, I hear ya on the UltraSound (lol)... I pre-ordered one as well, so we'll see about them shipping around June 1st.

Jay-gon Jinn
05-18-2007, 11:37 PM
As far as looks goes, it's done. I like the current design, so I'll be sticking with it, unless some thing else comes up, the Ultraboard will be it's final upgrade. if I get a new blade holder/emitter done, it'll look pretty much the same, but will have the space to house a either a standard 5 deg lens or the 6 deg lens Ace sent me. the only other thing i've considered is adding a touch more brass....maybe a new switchbox... someday...:)

Jay-gon Jinn
05-30-2007, 10:18 AM
Well as it turns out, I did find another mod to do to this sabers' blade. Ultra was considering selling his blade film in a pre-rolled, pre-packaged DIY kit, and I asked if I could try it out and he sent me some! Here's a few pics:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/000_0022.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/000_0023.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/000_0024.jpg
I installed this in the 3/4" thin-walled blade that I added the 5 deg lens to and I think it turtned out pretty good. I got some dust contamination in it , but overall I like it.
Oh, and I did a video review of it here. (http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/?action=view&current=101_0077.flv)

Hasid Lafre
05-30-2007, 10:40 AM
Nice vid. Iam still not sold on ultras film thou.

Lord Maul
05-30-2007, 04:40 PM
good review jay gon.
i'm glad that worked out for you...mine did :D

pockets
05-30-2007, 06:37 PM
yeah jay, i cut my ultra down to size and i got the film all covered in dust. but it is AMAZING, i love my ultra blade

vortextwist
06-08-2007, 06:54 PM
I need some help here.
ok so I've looked and searched but. I need the lens to fit into a 3/4 inch hole and sit atop an lux led. thanks guys

Jay-gon Jinn
06-08-2007, 09:33 PM
If you just need it to fit into the hole, then I'd suggest removing both of the tabs from the lens. It should fit right into the hole. I used to do that with mine before I took it to the grinder and put it in the blade. It just slid right into the 3/4" blade hole and then I put the blade in on top of it.